July 2nd - The Week in Review

I had a few things I wanted to post about and now only remember a couple.  I was lucky to be able to visit the Zoo friends several times this week and have alot of great photos to share.  I hope to finish uploading them soon.

On Tuesday, I stopped in for the Keeper talk in the Lion House as I had seem Taymor (male Sumatran) inside once during that time and thought I might get some video of him.  After Debbie, the Assistant Carnivore Curator gave her pre-talk, she opened the door and called out to Shastyuh (female Amur) to come in.  "Martha."  In case you are just joining my blogging, Shastyuh is "Martha's" real name.  Shastyuh has always had this name.  She was 11 years old when they changed her name.  Awful.  I have a real problem with the changing of the Animals names and refuse to call them by their donor names, with the exception of Leanne who I first knew as Leanne and the habit is hard to break, so sometimes I refer to her as Skylar and sometimes Leanne.  "Martha!"  The continued calling out to "Martha" was at the eight count since the point I decided to start counting.  Ridiculous.  If they actually used the Animals real name, the one (in this case) she grew up with, maybe she'd come sooner.  When "Martha" finally came in it was probably because she woken up by the continual calling and knew there would be a treat involved, not because she is responding to this ridiculous new moniker.  Likewise, they have changed Taymor's name to Larry.  Dumb and Disrespectful.

Post I did about name changing.
http://sanfranciscozoofails.blogspot.com/2011/05/name-changing.html

Once back outside,
I said "Hi" to Shastyuh and she smiled :)
Pretty Girl!

 I also asked her what she thought
about being called "Martha"

She disapproves.

I also saw this cute action from Tallulah.  Keeper Dana was putting up a 4th of July banner outside Chimps and Tallulah saw her and came over.  Maggie was above and gave it a quick look, but Miss T was very interested in what was going on.  

I think Tallulah would like to be in charge of decorations :)

The curious things I saw were with barriers.  I've written before about barriers I'd like to see both immediately doable (barriers at glassed areas/fencing/netting) and some that would take a financial backing (more glassed in areas WITH additional barriers to keep people from the glass).   I have also written that Inti  (Bobcat) needs a "Shoosh" sign since he has been used to peace, not people running up, screaming and making sounds at him.  I have also written that Angelo (Anteater) would benefit from the type of fencing/netting barrier that Inti has, since his area is so wide open and people constantly hanging over the barrier, laying across it and putting stuff on it that could easily fall into the moat.

That all said, its curious that they have gone the extra distance to keep people back from Inti (still no "Shoosh" sign), yet Angelo still remains vulnerable.

Angelo's area on the left.  

You can even see someone leaning
over the barrier in the photo.

Also curious was that there are five viewing areas at Gorillas, yet only two of them have Step Back Barriers.  

Yes these two areas are at a closer level to the Gorillas, but they are no more vulnerable to Visitor Misbehavior.  Theses should be at every viewing area at Gorillas, in addition at Angelo's (as well as putting a fencing/netting up), and at all the glassed in areas where Visitors can tap on the glass.  Snow Leopards and Cat Grotto A, are the biggest targets for this behavior. 

See More Animal Photos on the Photosite!

http://iamnotananteater.shutterfly.com

*Apologies again for the odd highlighted portions.  Not sure why this happens.